The Forest
by inthepineforest
Summary: The Doctor and Donna find themselves in a strange forest.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is my first story. I apologize for any mistakes and I hope you like it! **

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"Where d'you want to go next?"

"I don't know. A vacation would be nice, you know, sometimes you gotta take a break from the monsters," Donna said while walking around the console.

"Okay doke then." The Doctor pressed a few buttons and when the TARDIS landed, he looked at Donna with a smirk on his face. "We can be anywhere right now. We can be on a resort planet, like Midnight, or well, I could've pressed a wrong button."

"Oi! Spaceman! Stop it! Let's just open the door and I hope it's a resort planet!" Donna ran to the door and opened it widely.

The first thing she felt was the smell of a forest. The clean air filled her lungs and suddenly a feeling of calmness came over her. She stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. They were indeed in a forest. The pine trees were surrounding them and the forest seemed endless.

"Where are we?" Donna asked when the Doctor came out of the TARDIS. "Are we on Earth?"

"No, I don't think so. And there's a chance I might _have _pressed the wrong button. Oh well, this place looks nice. We can make a picnic and look around. What do you say?" the Doctor suggested and Donna nodded. They headed through the trees, leaving the TARDIS behind them.

As they walked they could hear a nearby stream murmuring and birds singing. After ten minutes of walking, Donna suddenly stopped. She opened her mouth to say something but then she changed her mind and closed it.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

Donna hesitated but answered, "The birds… It's like they are singing the same tune over and over again, it doesn't sound natural! It's weird."

"I haven't noticed that," the Doctor said looking a bit confused. "Are you sure? I would have heard it by now. They are just ordinary birds."

"Probably, yeah, I suppose you're right," Donna agreed and they continued their walk.

During the next few minutes the Doctor gradually started walking slower, his breathing became troubled until he finally leant against a tree.

"You alright?" Concerned, Donna approached him.

"I'm fine, I just got a little tired, that's all. Do you want to sit down for a bit?" And as he was saying that, the Doctor sat under the tree, leaning against it, and closed his eyes.

"You never want to sit down for a bit. What's happening, Doctor?" Donna insisted and sat on the ground beside him.

"Nothing, Donna! I haven't slept in a few days, so that's probably it. Nothing to worry about," the Doctor assured her and buried his face in his hands, but she still wasn't convinced enough and looked at him worriedly. "We'll just sit around here for a while and then we'll continue our walk and try to figure out where we are," he faced her and smiled, "Really, don't worry. I'm fine."

"Okay." Donna smiled back and gazed at the forest.

The forest calmed her. It almost looked like as if it were magical; it made her feel strange, but a good strange, like everything was enchanted. The noises, the chirping, the clicking, the twittering, they were just so lulling. The grass they were sitting on was soft and green, even greener than usual and the trees were majestic, all so tall and strong and… didn't they look a bit too similar to each other? Donna closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and then opened them again. No, this time she was sure that something was off.

"Okay, something is not right! Look at the trees. How can all of them have the absolute same branch at the exact same spot?" Donna exclaimed, pointing at the trees, "That just doesn't happen! And I wasn't wrong about the birds! Don't you hear them? It's the same repetitive melody, it's been going on since we came here! I'm telling you, Doctor, this place is odd! Maybe it's because we are on a different planet but still… What do you think?" Donna stopped to take a breath, "Doctor, what do you think? Doctor? Doctor!"

Donna turned around to see him and gasped when she saw him lying on the ground, unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I forgot to add it in the last chapter. I do not own Doctor Who (unfortunately).**

**A/N: I'm sorry if there are any mistakes and reviews are always welcome! :)**

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At first Donna was just sitting on the ground, looking at him, but then quickly got to his side.

"Doctor?" Unsure what to do, she touched his cheek and noticed how cold it was.

The first thing that crossed her mind was that he was dead. Donna started frantically looking for his pulse and when she checked both of his hearts and felt the uneven beats, she sighed in relief.

Donna stood up and suddenly felt fear. Nobody knew who or what lived in that forest. She was completely alone on an unknown planet, in a forest, which obviously wasn't a safe place, and she didn't know what to do to help the Doctor.

The other thing starting to worry her was that whatever had happened to him could be fatal. With that thought in mind, Donna anxiously walked around the tree and sat down next to him again.

"Doctor, please wake up!" she begged and helplessly ran her fingers through her hair.

After a few minutes of staring at the trees, Donna told herself that she was able to deal with this despite the fact she didn't have a plan yet. She gathered her thoughts and the only thing she could think of was going back to the TARDIS and calling for help somehow. She didn't want to leave the Doctor alone but so far this was the only option. Donna stood up and looked at him to see if there was any sign of him being better but he was still lying on the ground motionless. She turned around and started walking along the path they came from.

While Donna was walking she paid more attention to the surroundings. The trees were indeed identical – the same branch on the same spot again and again and again. Among them animals had appeared. Pairs of gray hares with a black spot on their backs were almost everywhere and Donna saw a snow-white fox four times. She could hear the stream and the birds above her singing that same melody she had heard before and that annoyed her.

"Can't you just shut up?" Donna yelled at the birds but, of course, they continued their repetitive song.

The whole forest was annoying her. How could everything be the same? Was it artificial? But it all looked so real! Donna came near a tree and laid her hand on it. The bark was rough, as it should be. She looked up, reached for a branch and touched the needles. They felt pretty real, too. Maybe everything was an anomaly? Either way, Donna wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

She was getting tired and more and more worried about the Doctor. She thought of him, alone and defenceless, and quickened her pace. It also occurred to her that she could easily get lost because of the similar surroundings but there weren't any other paths so Donna hoped she would find the TARDIS soon.

Because of her growing anxiety and impatience to get to the ship, she had the feeling she had been walking for hours. Donna remembered they walked for about fifteen minutes so she would have seen the TARDIS by now. While thinking about this, she noticed the grass in front of her looked different. It appeared, at first glance, to be trampled. She warily approached it and saw that it had the shape of a square.

That was odd. It was the first thing that wasn't duplicated in that forest. It looked as if something heavy had been standing there for some time. Donna wondered how she had not seen this when they arrived. So was it something that happened recently?

Also its shape was, in some way, familiar to Donna. She pondered over this and when a possibility came into her mind, she turned pale and froze.

"No! No. This can't be real, it can't be happening!" Donna screamed, gasped for breath and looked around desperately. "No, no, no, no…"

When she calmed down a little, she thought of another possibility – what if she was in the wrong place? Yeah, that should be it. She must be at the wrong spot.

But how could she be lost if there was only one path? Then Donna saw something that proved she was in the right place – a little piece of husked paint which was TARDIS-blue. The TARDIS was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

(Meanwhile elsewhere, not very far away)

"Sir, there's someone in the Forest!"A young, dark-haired man with an anxious look on his face barged into the large room, where an older man was sitting behind a desk, going through a stack of papers.

"What?! That's impossible and you know it. The access has been restricted for months now. No one can near it," said the older man, with concern in his voice. "Did you see them on the cameras, Bill?" he asked.

"They are two, sir. A man and a woman. There is also some kind of an object, it looks like a police box. It's probably theirs," Bill explained and then added, "We acquired it and we are going to examine it now."

"What about the people? We have to try and save them first! They can't stay in the Forest for long or they'll be dead by the end of the day! What were they doing there anyway?" he asked and stood up.

"The man seemed unconscious and the woman was walking through the Forest, obviously she was looking for help," Bill answered.

"Okay, let's go and find out what's happening. Hurry up!"

The two men ran out of the room. They strode along a long corridor, which led to a small premise. It was filled with monitors, which showed the Forest from different sides. There was not much difference on their screens since everything was similar. One of them was showing the Doctor, lying on the ground, and another - Donna, who was still near the square of trampled grass and was looking angry.

"So that's them," the older man remarked, looking at the monitor showing the Doctor. "Okay, we won't tell the others yet because that will complicate everything. Go and get four gas masks and the antidote. I'll wait for you in my office."

...

Donna just couldn't believe it. No Doctor and no TARDIS. Now what? She took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. It was up to her to find some kind of a solution. She approached the nearest tree, stared at one of the branches, hesitated for a second, and then broke off a twig from it.

"Now you're not so identical, are you?" she hissed and angrily threw the twig away.

But when Donna faced the tree again, the twig was still there, like it had not been touched. _Oh, come on! _she thought, s_eriously? _Apparently, no damage could be caused, too.

Left with no choice, she decided to go back to the spot where she had left the helpless Doctor.

While walking, Donna knew it was almost impossible, but she still hoped that she would see him okay, with the TARDIS beside him, waiting for her to return. But when she came back, this time much quicker, there was no difference. The ship was missing and the Doctor had not moved. Well, at least he was there; someone could have kidnapped him, too.

Donna sighed, sat next to him and checked his pulse again, just to make sure he was alive. Suddenly, she heard footsteps, coming closer and closer. Her blood ran cold. She instinctively looked for a place to hide, but realized it was too late. In front of her appeared two men. They were both wearing transparent gas masks and were holding another two in their hands. The older one was also carrying a small plastic bottle, filled with greenish substance. Donna pulled herself together from the initial shock and stood up.

"Who are you?" shouted Donna and the older man simultaneously. "You first!" she insisted.

"I'm Paul Hampton and this is Bill Whittaker," he answered. "We are part of the team, responsible for the Forest. Put this on, you've been exposed to the air for too long; it's strange you are still okay."

He handed her the gas mask and Donna gave it a suspicious look but eventually decided to put it on. At the same time, Bill took the small bottle, connected it to the other gas mask and put it on the Doctor.

"What's that?!" Donna pointed at the bottle. "Don't you dare harm him!"

"Calm down, that's the antidote. He'll be fine, I promise. Now who are you, how did you get here and why?" Hampton inquired.

"I'm Donna Noble and we didn't get here on purpose! It was an accident and, believe me, I regret it!" she snapped. "What is this place?"

"We'll talk later. We better not stay here. Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm sorry this chapter is a little messy but everything will be explained in the next and final chapter. I hope you like it and reviews are welcome! :)**

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"Take your friend's hand and mine and let's go," the older man ordered and reached out his hand expectantly.

"How are we going to get there?" Donna asked, not moving a muscle.

"Vortex Manipulator. Now come on, we're wasting time!" He grabbed her hand.

She reached for the Doctor's hand and the next thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a large oval office-looking room and felt a thick carpet beneath her feet. There were a lot of messy bookcases scattered around, their shelves stuffed with lots of papers and folders. Right in the middle stood a massive wooden desk, littered with all sorts of pens, pencils, staples, markers and more stacks of papers. It did not look like a place where you would actually find anything. The wide windows had heavycurtains, which were blocking most of the light and the room was a bit dim.

"Sit and make yourself at home. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee or something to eat?" Hampton offered and sat behind the desk.

"What I would like is to know who are you and what exactly is happening?" Donna asked, her eyes piercing him.

"I'll explain everything but first I want to know how you got in the Forest…"

"Why should I tell you? I don't trust you! Since we met, you're all secretive, then you bring us here and offer tea like we're on a visit!" she interrupted him, glanced at the floor and saw the Doctor, who hadn't moved. "What's wrong with him? Why hasn't he woken up yet?" she asked worriedly.

"Give it a little time," the man said calmly and a second later the Doctor groaned. "See, I'm not lying."

The Time Lord slowly removed the gas mask off his face and looked around dizzily. He stood up and eyed the three people in the room.

"Are you alright?" Donna ran up to him.

"What's going on? Where are we?" He looked at her.

"While we were in that forest you passed out. I wanted to go to the TARDIS and get help but she wasn't where we left her." When he heard that, the Doctor's expression changed from slightly confused to angry. Donna continued, "I got back, they came and brought us here."

"Where is my TARDIS?" The Doctor took a step forward. "Do you happen to know? A big, blue box? You can't miss it if you've seen it. "

"We took it. We wanted to examine it, to see what it was," explained Bill, who was standing by the door since they came.

"That's a bit rude, taking it without asking. And I thought I was rude. Rude and not ginger," the Doctor said, gazing at the ceiling. "Anyways," his attention fell on the man before him, "I want her back now. And I want to know what exactly, you lot, are up to."

"Okay, fine." Hampton gave up on his attempts to find out how they got in the forest. "Sit down and I'll explain everything." He gestured at the wide sofa near the wall.

The Doctor and Donna exchanged glances and sat on the well-padded sofa. On the other side of the room, Bill sat on a chair.

"I don't know where you are from, but clearly not from this planet, since you don't know about the Forest and everything," he started. "If I have to be honest, even _we_ are not sure about our own history. No one knows for certain how we got on this planet or where we originated from. The most wide-spread theory is that we evolved from humans. Have you heard of planet Earth?"

"If I've heard of it? I was born there!" Donna exclaimed and looked at the man as if he was insane.

"Born there?!" Hampton repeated, sheer astonishment written on his face. "You mean you are a real human? So that's why the air in the Forest didn't affect you! You only have one heart!" He laughed and stared at her like he was seeing her for the first time. "What about you, then? Where are you from? You can't be human, you nearly died there! And you never told us your name."

"I'm the Doctor," answered the Doctor lively. "Hello! And no, I'm not from Earth. But why are you so surprised Donna has one heart? Don't you?"

"No. We look like humans; we have the same languages, the same everything and that's why we think we evolved from them. The only exception is that we have two hearts."


	5. Chapter 5

"Two hearts? You have two hearts?" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly with a wide grin. "Oh, brilliant humans! Well, not exactly humans but still… You always manage to survive, don't you? Oh, that's brilliant! But how come this happened?"

"As I said, we don't know."

Hampton leant his elbows on the desk and stared at the space in front of him unseeingly. Oh, how he wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Is your planet Earth-like?" Donna's voice roused him from his reverie. "Do you have the same water or… or the same animals and air and soil and other… things?" she asked curiously. So far everything was getting more and more interesting.

"Yes, everything is the same. But the situation of the continents is different and they are four instead of seven. And, of course, different names. Also there aren't separate countries – everything is a whole."

"One of the main reasons for that is because our planet is just too small. It's the size of Earth's um… what was the name? Isia?" chimed in Bill, who was still standing quietly by the door.

"Asia, Bill, Asia! You have to learn these already! We can't make any progress if we don't know basic things! We are all doomed if we don't succeed!" The older man's voice sounded desperate.

"Wait, doomed? Why would you be doomed?" the Doctor asked, taken aback by the sudden turn of the conversation.

"The population is growing too fast and more people mean more pollution on our already polluted planet," he sighed. "Nearly half of the land is now inhabitable because of it. Somebody had to do something and we turned out to be that somebody. And by we I mean me and my team. We started a project called The Forest. We were supposed to rebuild these areas, making them habitable again. We tried once. That's the forest you came across. Everything is artificial – every tree, every animal, every blade of grass."

"But that's genius!" the Time Lord beamed. "You can help other civilizations even! But there's more to the story, isn't there?" he added, noticing Hampton's grim look.

"At first we were so proud; thinking all of our problems would vanish. Then we all went to the Forest and almost died. The air there is poisonous. Only to us, though, only to two hearted species. The animals can live there; they've got one heart," Hampton explained. He stopped talking for a second, then suddenly asked, "Where are you from? What species are you?"

"Time Lord," the Doctor replied. "Last of," he specified and quickly added, "Doesn't matter," when he saw the other man opening his mouth to ask questions.

Something had started to bother Donna since the mention of her home planet and she couldn't help but ask,

"How do you know so much about the Earth? It's not like it's very close, is it?"

"No, but it's not that far either. You see, we are more technologically advanced than people on Earth are and we can closely observe planets which are light years away. We tried to find one similar to ours, so we can learn more about our descent. We came upon Earth and started studying whatever there is to know."

"Wow, you really are skillful," the Doctor praised them. "One more question, how do you get in and out of the Forest?"

"With my Vortex Manipulator. It's a device, which allows you to..."

"Yeah, I know what it is. Where did you get it from?" he inquired.

"Some time ago, before starting the Project, a man came on our planet. He said he was a Time Agent and left the Vortex Manipulator here. Then we never saw him again."

"And he never said anything? Like why or something?" Donna puzzled.

"Only that it would be useful in our future. But it's not working properly," Hampton said sadly. "It's supposed to travel in time as well and a few other things but it can't. We tried to fix it, though we could not."

"Better not. Trust me on that," the Doctor assured him. "What are your plans for the Forest? Do you have any ideas? You're not going to destroy it, are you?"

"We'll keep on trying, I guess. We don't have much choice, it's this or we die eventually," the older man looked at both Donna and the Doctor.

"We've got about a couple of decades left. Unless we think of something, our time is up, and there will be no one else to blame but us," Bill finished the gloomy prediction.

The Doctor and Donna exchanged glances. They were thinking the same thing. The Time Lord expressed the thought out loud,

"Let's see how we can help then!"


End file.
